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Mozambique: Armed groups attack in Cabo Delgado
8:15 CAT | 08 Apr 2020
File photo: DW
Armed groups that have been leading attacks in Cabo Delgado province, northern Mozambique, on Monday [April 6] they invaded the districts of Quissanga and Muidumbe, where they burned down a church, without causing deaths, several local sources told Lusa on Tuesday [April 7].
The first attack is said to have taken place in Meangalewa, located in the administrative post of Chitunda, and in Muidumbe, where the group is said to have held some residents hostage for some time before vandalising a local church.
“They entered in the morning [Monday, April 6]] and told the population that everyone should adhere to Islam. They did not kill anyone, they just destroyed a Catholic church and took four people with them,” a local source said.
In contact with Lusa, the bishop of Pemba, Luiz Fernando Lisboa, said the local population fled into the bush and is not sure what the damage of this new attack is.
“The population has fled into the bush and I have no way of knowing what happened. I had the same information [that the church was burned down], but I do not have any details or confirmations,” Luiz Fernando Lisboa said.
Another resident contacted by Lusa said the group moved to the village of Muatide in the same district earlier on Tuesday [April 7] afternoon, where they fired several shots into the air, without causing any casualties.
Besides Muatide, according to the sources, the insurgents have reportedly destroyed several houses in villages of Mueda [district], 41 kilometres from Muidumbe.
Different local sources told Lusa that in addition to the attacks in Muidumbe district, there was another armed incursion, also on Monday[April 6], against Bilibiza, more than 100 kilometres south and about 50 kilometres from Pemba, the provincial capital.
Bilibiza is a village where an agrarian school was attacked in January and where part of the population fled.
Lusa contacted the Mozambican police spokesman in Cabo Delgado, Augusto Guta, who neither confirmed nor denied the information.
Cabo Delgado province has been the target of attacks by armed groups which international organisations class as a terrorist threat and which in two and a half years have claimed at least 350 lives, in addition to 156,400 people affected with loss of property or forced to abandon their homes and land in search of safe places.
In late March, the towns of Mocímboa and Quissanga were invaded by the group, which destroyed several infrastructures and raised its flag in a barracks of the Defence and Security Forces of Mozambique.
On the occasion, in a video distributed on the internet, an alleged jihadist militant justified the attacks by armed groups in northern Mozambique to impose Islamic law in the region.
This was the first message issued by the perpetrators of the attacks that took place two and a half years ago in Cabo Delgado province, recorded in one of the villages they invaded.
Turning point in strategy was Mocimboa da Praia last week. In new video circulating today, insurgents say people in this town know them. They only will attack the state and its representatives. They want an Islamic State pic.twitter.com/HWtCgAJOWk
— Eric Morier-Genoud (@emorier) April 7, 2020
Crazy day in #Mozambique. Insurgents attacked various villages, a small town and the district capital of Muidumbe #CaboDelgado.
Destruction but no killing {recorded so far}. Maybe a PR op’ on an official holiday? PS. Bilibiza was yesterday https://t.co/hk2svvu70o— Eric Morier-Genoud (@emorier) April 7, 2020
To make the day worse, ISIS / IS/ Daesh just made a claim to the attack on Muidumbe. Within 12 hours!?! #CaboDelado https://t.co/YoKFMY8xs0
— Eric Morier-Genoud (@emorier) April 7, 2020
„we are from here”, the insurgents also say in the ne video. We invaded to show the current government is unfair. We are many in the bush. We aim at the armed force we consider pigs. Don’t collaborate with them, else when we come a third time we will kill & cut you to pieces pic.twitter.com/oTNdT155xj
— Eric Morier-Genoud (@emorier) April 7, 2020
Em acabo Delgado, os insurgentes continuam a actuar. A capacidade deles aumentou até o ponto de abrirem várias frentes em simultâneo. Desde ontem que atacam Mocimboa, Muidumbe e Quissanga. Este vídeo foi gravado em Mocimboa. Aguardando pela tradução. pic.twitter.com/EBiD53GmNn
— Tomás Queface (@tomqueface) April 7, 2020
Source: Lusa
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